Free Billy
by Phil From Produce
Summary: Ariel and her friends rescue a whale from a cruel sea park. Released on the 25th anniversary of the movie's original release - November 17th, 1989.
1. A game of Spongeball

Chapter 1 - A Game of Spongeball

()()

A warm, pleasant evening in Atlantica was accompanied by the sounds of fish and other sea creatures teaming up for a game of spongeball.

"Ok, kick-off!" Yelled the stand-in referee, a lobster.

He threw the spongeball up in the air and Urchin whipped it with his tail.

"Over here!" yelled out Flounder, who proceeded to pass the ball over to Ariel.

"Got it!" Ariel caught the spongeball and began handling it with her fins.

While handling, a dolphin swam by and knocked it from her tail.

"Ahh!" Ariel went after the loose spongeball.

"Get it, Ariel!" Urchin encouraged his teammate.

Triton sat from his balcony and laid back, enjoying the peace.

"Such a nice day...I got all my work done and now, I get to relax."

"You deserve it, yer majesty!" Sebastian was sipping on a drink "You been kingin' real 'ard this last week."

"Certainly. The red tide's been really good this year, The sharks are off mating in warmer seas, this is what we work for!" Triton sighed a cool breath and laid back.

In the distance, 3 large black figures emerged from the blue. it was a group of Non-aggressive Orca whales, a father, mother, and child orca.

"Oh, look dere yer majesty...a family of Orcas." Sebastian pointed out the whales, who were heading for Atlantica.

"They are...I guess we should go introduce ourselves." Triton got up from his relaxing chair and headed down for the sand.

Back down in the sand, the Spongeball game was still underway. Urchin gave the ball a really, really hard boot and it went off course, right in front of the young orca.

"Oh, a spongeball." the young whale picked the ball up in his mouth.

"Here, kick it back!" Ariel told the young whale

"Yeah!" the group added in.

The young whale spit the ball out, and then smashed it really, really hard with his tail. The ball went careening towards Urchin and with it's speed, pushed urchin a few feet before stopping. Urchin had to take a breather before speaking.

"Wow...he kicked you halfway to China." Flounder commented.

"Yeah..we should totally invite him to play." Urchin caught his breath.

"Come on over." Ariel invited the whale to come on in.

"You mean, I can play with you guys?" the whale asked

"Sure. You can play defense for the other team." Said Flounder

"Cool...by the way, my name is Billy." said the whale

"I'm Ariel." Ariel introduced herself.

"Urchin." Urchin introduced himself.

While Billy was getting aquainted with his new friends, his parents were introducing themselves to King Triton and Sebastian, who had swum down to greet their new residents.

"Good evening, I'm King Triton." Triton introduced himself to the whales.

"I'm Chinook, and this is my wife, Pink."

"How do you do?" Pink introduced herself to Triton.

"We just swam here from Seattle. And whew, it's been a long trip." Chinook breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, you're de couple dat bought dat 'ouse just outside of Atlantica. Dat place was fer sale fer a bit." Sebastian figured it out.

"Yeah, we've wanted to move here for a while. Hey, Billy, come and intro...wait, where's Billy?" Chinook turned to see Billy had disappeared from the group.

The sounds of the spongeball game could be heard all the way over. Billy kicked the ball and it went way up in the air.

"Oh, he's already making friends." Pink smiled

"I'll call him over." Chinook spoke

"Billy!" Chinook yelled out.

Back at the game, Billy was having such a fun time after his long trip, he didn't hear his father.

"BILLY! Get over here now!" Chinook yelled out

Billy heard that bit loud and clear.

"Oh, sorry...I gotta go guys...that's my dad." Billy began to swim away.

"Ok, take care Billy!" Ariel waved goodbye to the new friend.

"Yeah! Come by later! We'll take a swim together!" Urchin added

"Ok, see you guys later!" Billy swam off in the distance.

"Aren't new friends fun?" Flounder smiled.

"He sure makes a good defense for spongeball." added a fish in the background.

"Come on guys, let's finish the game!" said another fish

The group continued their game of spongeball until it was time for their dinner.

()()()


	2. An Outpouring of Emotion

Chapter 2 - An outpouring of emotion

()()()

The sun set in the sky above the surface and signaled the end of a boring day. Everything got done, the spongeball game ended without injuries, and everyone went inside their homes to have their dinners.

After a near uneventful dinner talking about nothing but chewing food, Ariel went out for a swim for a bit, hoping to catch the last bit of light before returning to her bedroom for the night. She sung to herself to herself on the swim.

Meanwhile, over in his small home, Urchin bounced a spongeball off the wall. The spongeball enjoyed being bounced around, as it didn't hurt him to be kicked, swatted, smacked, bit or anything.

Ariel passed Urchin's home and thought to visit him, but decided against it.

"Nah, he's probably tired. I'll catch him tommorow."

But as Ariel walked along, she could hear the sounds of arguing. Urchin heard it too.

"...You don't care about how I feel! You just said, hey we're moving today!" Yelled a voice

"You don't understand, son! If we had stayed..." That sounded like Chinook.

"Nothing would've happened!" That sounded like Billy

The yelling got Urchin's attention, as he swam out of his home, and saw Ariel on the same street.

"Did you hear that, too?" Ariel asked Urchin when she saw him.

"How could you not?" replied Urchin.

"...And then you yell at me all the time! Is it bad enough you took me away from my friends today?" Billy yelled back

"...Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young whale! You don't know how dangerous those humans can be!" Chinook replied

"That's it! I've had enough! I'm going home!"

Then the sound of whooshing burst out of a big hole, and Billy the whale came barrelling out of the hole.

"Hey, Billy! Get back here!" Yelled Chinook

Billy went barrelling by Ariel and Urchin, without even saying as much as a word. He was just crying.

"Billy! stop!" Ariel called out to Billy, who kept right on going.

"Hey! Come back!" Urchin began to give chase to Billy, with Ariel right behind.

()()()

Despite his speed, Urchin and Ariel were able to keep up with the whale, who had buried himself in some sand, with a lot of tears.

"Billy, what's the matter?" Asked a concerned Ariel

"It's my dad...he made us move here...I didn't want to come." Billy sobbed.

"Ah, it's not so bad here..." Urchin replied

"No, I just want my friends back. friends i've had for years..."

"Oh, Billy...we'll be your friends." Ariel comforted the young whale

"Yeah...i've never had a friend who was a whale before." Urchin added.

"But I want my other friends back! I'm going home!" Billy continued swimming away.

Ariel and Urchin were visibly frustrated.

"Come on, we can't swim that fast!" Urchin yelled out to Billy

Billy ignored them and continued for wherever his home was back in Seattle. He made a run for the surface to regain his breath. In their pursuit, Ariel went for the surface, but Urchin was more cautious.

"Ariel! We can't go to the surface! Your dad's gonna kill us if we do."

"Urchin, We have to stop Billy! If he gets too far from home we'll be sleeping out here tonight!"

But then things took a turn for the worse. Ariel got close to the surface, when she saw a net reach down.

"Billy! look out!" Ariel pointed at the net.

"What! AHHH!" Billy then got caught in the net.

"Oh, no!" Urchin then disavowed his own advice and bolted for the net to help free Billy.

"I can't find a way out!" Billy had gone from mad to sad to scared in less than 5 minutes.

Ariel tried looking for some way to free the whale, but there was nothing she could do. Urchin was also in the same way.

The net carried Billy from the sea and into the air. And that was the last they would see of Billy that night.

()()()

Ariel and Urchin began rushing back home as fast as their fins would take them.

"I'm nervous about this one." Urchin said

"Daddy will know what to do. He'll have some sort of plan." Ariel tried to reassure Urchin that it would be OK.

By the time Ariel and Urchin had reached Atlantica, Billy's parents were already searching for him, and were not having any luck.

"Why did you have to be so harsh on Billy...he's had a rough day." Pink asked her husband.

"It's tough on all of us...but I didn't want him to be caught by those humans back there. They would've made dinner out of him." Chinook replied

"Maybe the king can help us search." Pink suggested

"Maybe...but I wouldn't want to disturb the king this late. Billy's probably going to come home soon enough."

Convieniently enough, while the whales held that conversation, King Triton just happened to be out for his own swim.

"Oh, hello orcas, enjoying Atlantica so far?" asked Triton

"We are, it's just I think our son's having trouble readjusting." replied Pink

"He ran away a few minutes ago." Chinook added

"Oh, that's not good." Triton commented

"He's not enjoying it...I think he misses his friends back home." Said Pink

"But at the same time, back home the humans were fishing and a few whales disappeared. There's horror stories about nets and things and I didn't want that for my family." Added Chinook

"Well, we certainly share the same concerns." Triton tried to make light of the situation.

But by that time, Ariel and Urchin were able to find Billy's parents talking with Triton. Now came the horrible task of delivering the news of what happened to Billy.

"Oh, Ariel...you haven't met the new residents yet, have you?" asked Triton

"Daddy, we have a problem!" Ariel skipped over the niceties.

"Billy got caught in a net, he was..."

"A net! Oh no!" Now Chinook felt really bad.

"Where was this! take me to it!" Triton didn't want to waste time

"This way!" Ariel guided her father out to the spot

()()()

On the swim, Ariel and Urchin got aquainted with the whales and at full speed, went barrelling towards the spot where Billy got caught.

But to their misfortune, Billy was nowhere to be found.

"We couldn't free him. We tried, but the net was too strong." Said Urchin

And after Urchin told them of Billy's fate, Chinook and Pink began to cry. Pink buried her head in Chinook's belly.

"Where do we go from here?" Asked Urchin

"Home...there's nothing we can do now." Triton swam away, somberly. Even if it wasn't his fault, he felt bad that the new residents just lost their son.

"So that's it? You're just going to let him go like that?" Chinook was getting angry.

"It's your fault!" Pink stood up to her husband "If you didn't yell at him so much..."

Ariel and Urchin began swimming back for home while Triton did his best to comfort the whales for their loss.

By the time Ariel and Urchin returned home, they began to feel somber as well. But as sad as they were, Ariel was twice as determined to see if they could still find Billy and rescue him from the humans.

"He's still ok...Humans couldn't have taken him too far." Ariel thought out loud.

"Are you thinking what I think you're going to do?" Urchin began to get nervous.

"Come on, Urchin! If you were in trouble you'd want someone to come rescue you too, right?" Ariel asked her friend

"Well yeah, but..."

"Then let's go!"

Poor Urchin wasn't in any mood to argue...and life in Atlantica had been boring for a while, so an adventure felt right at the time.

Just as Ariel was barely able to convince Urchin to join her in her rescue effort, Sebastian came swimming along.

"Ariel, it's late! We must be gettin' to bed now!"

Ariel crossed her arms and looked at Sebastian with a look in her eyes.

"We're going to rescue Billy. Now." Ariel motioned for Sebastian to grab onto her fin.

"No way! Yer fadder will get really cranky!" Sebastian pleaded with Ariel not to pursue a potential death.

"I don't care, this is our new friend, we have to help him!"

"I'm not going." Sebastian kept his claws crossed.

"Please?" Ariel made cute eyes.

"No." Sebastian kept a straight face.

"Ok, Who didn't tell my sisters who put the spicy sauce in their seaweed salad for practical joke day, hm?"

Sebastian cracked a slight smirk before regaining his composure

"Ha! You was in on dat prank too, ya know!" Sebastian refused to be blackmailed.

"Who didn't tell daddy who took his last seaweed cookie? Remember how mad he was?"

Ariel had hit well below the belt with that use of extortion. Sebastian knew it was the truth, and clamored over to Ariel and whispered very calmly in her ear.

"Dat was not a very nice ting to threaten me with, child."

"So you're coming?" Ariel's smile brightened up

"Yes, but you tell yer fadder when we get caught, you blackmailed me into coming!" Sebastian ordered

"I'll swear to that in court." Ariel allowed Sebastian to grab her fins.

And with that, Ariel, Urchin, and Sebastian were well on their way into the night, to hopefully bring home the young whale.

()()()


	3. Dolphins in Pursuit

Chapter 3 - Dolphins in Pursuit

()()()

While Ariel and Urchin stayed calm throughout the night, Sebastian was more than worried when the king would find out about their sudden trek to rescue someone they'd only just met hours before.

"I'll tell da king it was blackmail, she said. I'll swear to it in court, she said..." Sebastian wouldn't stop ranting.

"Come on, Sebastian, it won't be that bad." said Ariel

"Dats easy fer you to say, child. Yer not bound to be endin' up a crab cake." Sebastian was still very nervous about the ordeal.

The 3 kept on swimming, keeping awake by running a conversation.

"I wonder how much that whale eats." Urchin asked out loud.

"Probably a lot." replied Ariel

"I just 'ope he doesn't eat crabs!" Sebastian was always thinking about that.

"That's real negative talk for a crab who at one time cleaned out that one whale's teeth, remember that?" Asked Ariel

"Oh ya...Den de red tide come a flowin' and ol' Sebastian saw dat it was just a bunch of little red bugs." Sebastian cracked a smile

"See, I knew that would bring his spirits up." Said Ariel

"Either that or give him a orchestra." added Urchin.

Then the sounds of dolphins interrupted their conversation.

"Hey, it's a pod of dolphins." Urchin pointed into the distance.

The dolphins were barrelling through the sea at a rate of high speed. By the sounds of it, they were in pursuit of something.

"Maybe they know where Billy went." Ariel swam towards the dolphins.

With Urchin and Sebastian in tow, Ariel swam over to the dolphins and were greeted peacefully. Dolphins posed no threat to mermaids and mermaids posed no threat to Dolphins, so if either were to meet, it was a peaceful meeting.

"Um, excuse me." Ariel began the conversation "Have you seen a human ship carrying a whale anytime?"

The dolphins had an answer that would make the group happy.

"No, but one of our buddies got caught up in one of those human nets...we're going after them!" Said the dolphin

"They're being taken somewhere...I don't know what the humans call it." Said another

"That's good!" Urchin jumped into the conversation

"Can we follow you guys?" Asked Ariel "Maybe the whale got caught by the same net."

"Sure thing...we dolphins enjoy the company." said the leader of the dolphins.

It turned out the dolphins created a current that would carry the rest of the group, like when birds fly in a V-formation. Throughout the swim, Ariel and Urchin would move within the same formation. Sebastian would simply hang onto Ariel's fins.

()()()

Back home, King Triton had already noticed Ariel had gone missing for an hour.

"Ariel, are you around here?" King Triton called out to Ariel's favorite swimming spots. But to his dismay, there was no Ariel there.

"That girl better not have gone off to try and find that whale THIS late!" Triton grumbled to himself.

As Triton paced around the streets, Chinook the whale came outside as well, and if he had hands he would've been shoving a lot of humble pie down his throat.

"Listen king, i'm sorry if I was really mad before..."

"...no...it's fine. Now things are worse...my daughter's gone missing. And so has her friend Urchin and my aide, Sebastian." Triton replied in a calm tone.

"You...you don't think they went after my boy, do you?" asked Chinook.

"Knowing Ariel, she probably did. That daughter of mine is so stubborn sometimes!" Said Triton.

"I almost want to go out looking too. There's hope, right?"

Triton certainly felt the same way.

"I've got that feeling too." Added Triton.

"I'll tell my wife, I won't want her to worry." Said Chinook

"Meet back here in 5 minutes, i'll get someone to stand guard in the palace." Triton swam off towards his palace.

The 2 fathers went to do what duties they had promised and returned to go into the darkness to bring back their children...and hopefully nothing would go wrong.

()()()


	4. An attempted morning rescue

Chapter 4 - An attempted morning rescue

()()()

A few hours passed since Ariel, Urchin and Sebastian all found their way to the dolphins, and they could no longer continue unless they got some sleep. So without hesitation, the group went to sleep and did not wake up for a few hours.

When Urchin opened his eyes first, he saw the bright sunlight shining down upon his group, as well as bubbles erupting from some vents.

"Ariel, Sebastian, Wake up, it's morning." Urchin tried to wake up his friends, And had success in doing so.

"...Morning Urchin." Ariel's voice was deepened a bit from her sleep.

"Mornin' mon." Sebastian yawned and stretched his claws out.

The group took time to get their eyes opened and fully awake. Then they had a chance to see what Urchin saw.

"So...now what do we do?" Asked Urchin

"I'll be checkin' the surface, mon." Sebastian swam for the surface and peeked out of the water.

What he saw shocked and awed him greatly - a massive structure with the sounds of sea life either sad or begging. there was a giant sign on one of the buildings which read "Sea-life city." Sebastian couldn't read it, but judging by the shapes and pictures on the side of the other buildings, he figured they were in the right place. He submerged back into the sea to tell Ariel and Urchin where they were.

"It's a human place...dere be paintings of fish and udder tings on de walls." Sebastian reported.

"So it's worth looking into." Said Ariel

The group didn't know if it would work, but they figured going through the ventilation system in the water might be their way in. Ariel looked at the vents up close, and found one was slightly open.

"Here Urchin, help me." Ariel tried to force the vent door open.

Urchin flexed his pre-pubsescent biceps and swam over to help Ariel rip the door open. with the efforts of both, the vent broke open, and they were able to go in.

"Let's go, Sebastian." Ariel motioned for Sebastian to follow.

The group swam through a long tunnel, about 8 by 8 feet, enough space for them to fit. Sebastian crawled along the floors of the vents, remaining cautious of what laid in front of him.

"Should we call out for Billy?" asked Urchin

"No, mon! Ya never know what dem humans might do." Sebastian warned

"We'll keep looking around...maybe there's a way into a bigger tank or something." said Ariel.

With 5 minutes since their entry into the vents, they could hear the sounds of a crying whale.

"That sounds like Billy." Said Urchin

Ariel used her sense of hearing to try and decipher where Billy might have been. With a minute of tracking, Ariel found another vent, and this one led into a huge tank. Ariel peeked into the tank...and there was Billy, all curled up, and crying like a whale.

"He's here!" Ariel motioned for Urchin and Sebastian.

Urchin and Sebastian peeked into the tank and also saw Billy there.

"We can't get him through the vents. He's too big." Said Urchin

"So we have to figure out another way to get him out of there." Said Ariel

"We'll 'ave to get in dere and maybe den we can figure it out." Sebastian began using his claw to unscrew the bolts holding the vent. With 5 minutes of work, Sebastian had the vent unscrewed, providing entry into the tank.

"Good work, Sebastian." Urchin congratulated the crab

"Yah man...call me...de safe-cracker!" Sebastian laughed.

The group got into the tank and swam over to Billy. Billy heard their swimming and turned to see them.

"Hey...it's you guys...how did you find me?" Billy stopped crying, as he now had a ray of hope.

"Never mind that, are you ok?" asked Ariel

"Not really...all they've fed me is..." Billy almost looked sick when he ended with "...rotten tuna."

"Blegghhh!" Ariel and Urchin stuck their tongues out in agreement of how bad that would taste.

Then some voices came to life on the surface. Ariel could barely make them out.

"...you know it's cruel to keep that whale in that tank! He's too young to be taken from his family!" yelled a female voice

"He's our object, I paid for him in full, and he will be trained to perform, Tracey!" yelled a male voice.

Sebastian broke the surface and looked at the humans, who appeared to be arguing. One of them was a young lady, in her mid-20s, wearing a greenpeace shirt and leading a group of people who looked much like her.

"These are wild animals, not stunt-creatures to put on a stupid show!" the lady, who was named Tracey, kept arguing. "We will not stand for this whale's illegal capture! You must release him now!"

"He was captured legally off the shores of Denmark, Ms. Blythe!"

"You bought him off some greasy fisherman!" Tracey replied back.

Sebastian bailed back down into the sea and gave the news to the merfolk.

"Dere's some humans up dere who are arguin' about Billy." Sebastian reported

"But King Triton says humans are all the same. How can that be?" asked Urchin

"Daddy's wrong...If what you're saying is true...then not all humans are the same." Said Ariel.

"That still doesn't help us in getting out this whale." Urchin added.

Back on the surface, some whale trainers looked into the tank...and they saw 2 figures with what looked like a small fish in the water.

"Hey! Theres tree-huggers in the whale tank! Get em out!" The trainers yelled out. Of course, that meant tripping the alarm.

"What! There's none of our group in there!" Tracey spoke.

When the alarm sounded, that was more than enough motivation to get Ariel and Urchin out of there. They had to leave Billy behind.

"Sorry Billy, we're going to have to figure something else out!" Urchin followed Ariel out into the vents.

"Ok..." Billy went back into his corner of the tank to wait.

Sebastian was the last to go through the vents. While Ariel and Urchin were able to go really fast, Sebastian got left behind.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Sebastian ordered

But while Ariel and Urchin were able to get out of the vents undetected, Poor Sebastian got grabbed by a human in a wetsuit.

"Oh, it's just a crab." The diver thought.

Sebastian didn't take his capture lying down. He took his claw and pinched the diver.

"OWW! he pinched me!" She yelled out

"Oh, did the poor little human get a boo-boo?" Sebastian taunted.

He continued to try and escape, but was caught, and quickly netted.

Sebastian kept quiet as he was placed in a net by the diver. She then swam back for wherever she entered, taking Sebastian with her.

()()()


	5. Fresh Meat

Chapter 5 - Fresh Meat

()()()

Sebastian was brought out of the vents by the diver. She surfaced amongst the protestors and the park's owners. The diver removed her regulator as the trainers helped remove her scuba gear.

"It was this crab." The diver held Sebastian up, who knew better to keep his mouth shut around humans. "Must've gotten in through a broken vent."

"No, I swore I saw 2 other people down there...they almost looked like mermaids..." the trainer was cut off.

"Non-sense! Mermaids aren't real!" said another trainer.

"You've been watching too many viewings of H20." said another trainer.

"Whoever they were, they wern't associated with us!" Tracey was telling the truth.

"Either way, you should throw the crab in with the others. The display's kind of lacking." said the owner.

The diver dropped Sebastian into a bucket of water, and proceeded to bring him to the crustacean crab display.

()()()

"Oh man, we lost Sebastian!" Urchin looked behind him into the vents.

"Ah, daddy's gonna kill me." Ariel was getting depressed.

Of course, Urchin wanted to keep their spirits up.

"I wouldn't worry about Sebastian...he always seems to take care of himself." Urchin comforted Ariel.

"I guess...but we still need to get Billy out of the tank and into the ocean." Said Ariel

Urchin stopped to think of a possible plan.

"We could go home, get your dad and get him to blow a hole in the wall." said Urchin

"No! We can't tell daddy. He'll totally kill us both for being so close to humans!" replied Ariel

"Well, then that leaves us with one more option...we wait for it to be night, so that way they forget about us and it's dark and then we go in and somehow get the whale out."

Ariel couldn't think of any other option, and neither could Urchin. so all they had to do was wait for it to be dark.

()()()

Meanwhile, Poor Sebastian had been dropped into the extensive crustacean display, and all of the crustaceans were either muscular and mean or just looked pure mean.

"Look-at the fresh crab meat!" yelled a crab

"Wooo!" yelled another

Sebastian crawled along the bottom of the tank, trying to ignore the catcalls and the whistles.

"Wooo, hey, come and hang out with me, fresh crabmeat!" said another

"I could keep warm with that shell..."

"Wooo...I like em reeeeeeed." another crab held his 'red' for a while.

Sebastian was even more nervous around these crabs than he was around humans. and as he crawled, he got approached by the leader, who had a thick brow and what looked like battle scars. He didn't get a word in before Sebastian was ready to raise his dukes.

"Yah, what mon? Ya wanna go, mon? Wanna mess with dese whoppers, mon?" Sebastian prepared to fight if it was necessary.

The crab leader took a second to click. He'd seen Sebastian before. He began to speak in a thick British accent.

"You're just as cross and fiesty as you were back in the old days...Dizzy Crustacie?"

Sebastian's eyes lit up like LED lights. Dizzy was his stage name in the old days!

"Packham?" Sebastian remembered the crab.

The 2 crabs shook claws almost instantaneously.

"Oh, mon, I 'avent 'eard from you since de old days, mon!" Sebastian's fear turned to joy in an instant.

"No joshing old boy, you still composing masterpieces for the King Triton?" asked Packham.

By now, all the crabs in the tank figured Sebastian was somebody famous, and some of them did remember 'Dizzy Crustacie' from the old days of jazz music, before they got sent to the tank.

"Boys, come meet my old chum Sebastian, he's been brought to the tank too!"

The crabs all got together and some of them were big fans of Sebastian's music.

"Sorry bout the fresh crab comments, you know, we gotta size up the fresh ones, ya know." said one of the muscular crabs.

"No worries mon." Sebastian was cooled down now.

"Oh you old boy, you're a blessing from God, you are! We needed a conductor for our glee club." said Packham

"Well, i'm just de crab for de job!" Sebastian smiled

"Good, cause the boys in back are making tools, and we need the choir to sing some songs that aren't from the old book..."

()()()


	6. Dead or Alive

Chapter 6 - Dead or alive

()()()

The hours passed and Billy remained hopeful inside his confinement that he would be able to go home soon enough.

However, back outside of the aquarium, Ariel and Urchin were busy trying to unscrew the vents, and without Sebastian's claws, it wasn't exactly the easiest task in the world, and they tried every little object they could find. Eventually, Ariel found a small, sharp rock that fit right into the screwhole.

"Can I ask you a question, Ariel?" asked Urchin

"Anything." Replied Ariel

"You realize that your dad would beach you when you left to go rescue Billy, yet you still did...why?"

Ariel didn't hesitate for a second.

"Because Billy's our friend now...and I don't want to imagine how he must have felt yesterday."

Urchin could respect that answer.

"And you don't care that your dad will probably beach us when...IF we get home?"

"It'll be worth it." Ariel got the first screw untightened "I want to see Billy's parents happy, so far, they seemed very sad."

"That's true." replied Urchin.

"From what daddy told me at supper, Billy's dad made them move away from this place humans called Seattle - it's where humans dropped their nets and took away whales, for no reason at all...he was scared the same thing would happen to him or his family and they would be broken up." said Ariel, untightening the second screw.

"But the same thing happened close to Atlantica."

"No, it happened because Billy went to the surface." replied Ariel "And humans know about whales, but they don't know about mermaids."

"Your dad doesn't seem to think that way."

"Daddy doesn't understand humans like me. They're not all bad. It's just that...we lost mom to them." Ariel's face showed a bit of sadness. "And he just can't let it go."

Urchin knew exactly what it was like to lose his parents.

"Yeah." replied Urchin, who tried to act stoic about it.

Ariel got the next screw untightened.

"Just think positive." Ariel cleared her mind of negative thought. "We are going to get Billy out of the tank and we will get him home and everyone will be happy." Said Ariel.

"And we'll be beached for probably a year." replied Urchin.

"It'll be worth it." Ariel got the last screw untightened on the vent cover. "Trust me."

Ariel hung onto the rock she used to unscrew the bolts and went into the vents with Urchin in tow.

()()()

Meanwhile, Billy was gagging down his dinner of old salmon that the trainers were able to scrape up from the local fish market. It tasted better than the rotten tuna they were left with from the day before, but not by much.

However, Billy's fate was being determined by the park's owners in the boardroom. but they were not alone, for the animal rights activist, Tracey Blythe, had crawled in through sea life city's ventilation system, and was able to listen in on the conversation.

"That whale's not responsive or anything. it's almost like he's dead." said one of the board members.

"The sad part is, he's worth more dead than alive." said another

"Oh come on, you're not thinking of draining the tank to kill the whale now, are you?" asked the CEO.

"No, that would be too much like that Free Willy movie now, would it?" said another.

"But no one except that tree-hugger, Tracey knows about it...and she's got the same reputation as those sea shepherds out on the ocean...reckless and insane. No one's going to believe her when she says..." the CEO did a false crying voice "Those cruel whale people killed that cute...widdle...whale."

The board laughed at the CEO's impression of Tracey.

"So you're cool with killing the whale?" asked a board member.

"It's just an animal. It's not on my conscience to kill him...besides, his kind has killed our kind just the same. it's payback if you ask me." The CEO replied.

"Oh yeah, Sealand in Victoria, B.C. and that trainer at Seaworld over in Orlando. The media never let that one go." replied another board member.

Tracey took everything down on an audio recording device. If anything, this was frauding an insurance company and she could totally have a case against the company if they tried to do what they said they would.

()()()

Meanwhile, Ariel and Urchin were mapping out the vents, which were all lighted so that way, if the divers needed to make repairs it would be easier for them. However, that would be the park's undoing, because if the vents were unlighted, Ariel and Urchin would be out of luck, or they would need to find a glowfish to assist them.

"You think your dad's going to be looking for you?" asked Urchin

"If daddy does find us, at least then it'll be easier to free Billy from his tank." replied Ariel

Urchin nodded his head and said "Positive thinking, alright."

They continued down the vents, and eventually, found one that led into a new tank...the Crustacean display!

"Hey, there's a bunch of crabs in this one." Urchin said

"Is Sebastian in with them?" asked Ariel

Urchin looked closer, and there was Sebastian, conducting a choir. Urchin was a bit shocked.

"Wow...he is...but you'd think he was right at home, not in a tank."

"What?" Ariel looked into the tank and noticed Sebastian was indeed, conducting a choir.

"We'll get him out too." Ariel began unscrewing the bolt on the vent cover. It was much easier on this vent, and it didn't take Ariel and Urchin long to tumble into the crustacean display, and when they did, the whole group of crabs were in shock, but Sebastian most of all.

"Ariel, where 'ave you been? you left me be'ind in your escape!" Sebastian was a bit angry.

"Are you ok?" Ariel ignored Sebastian's scolding.

"I'm fine, young lady. I'm actually right at 'ome. Ha, dese guys knew me when I was Dizzy Crustacie! Boys, say hello to Ariel, King Triton's youngest daughter." Sebastian introduced Ariel.

the crabs all had jumbled speech.

"I'm just going out on a octopus arm here, but um, why were you conducting a choir, Sebastian?" asked Ariel

"It's part of a ruse...we're going to escape! Hah, I conduct de boys and my old friend, Packham makes de tools! Ha!"

Sebastian walked over to the back of the tank, and showed Ariel packham's group of crabs using their claws to hammer old cans into sticks to make shovels.

"Come on Sebastian, we can't hammer unless you make the boys sing with glee." Packham looked up to see Ariel. "Wait, who's the girl?" asked Packham

"Dis is Ariel, King Triton's daughter!" replied Sebastian

"How'do you do, your highness?" Packham bowed before Ariel

"Oh, you don't have to do that." Ariel giggled

Meanwhile, Sebastian crawled back to the choir to conduct them in singing.

"OK boys, from de second verse...sing now!" Sebastian began to wave the conductor's stick.

_They know the fate of the world lies in their hands_

_they know to only use their weapons for defense_

_no one will ever take them down_

_their power lies on their side_

"Soundin' good, mon!" Sebastian praised his choir

Ariel was impressed at how they were able to cover up the sounds of crabs banging their claws to make tools, but knew they could get away right then.

"Come on, Sebastian, we can escape from that vent!" Ariel pointed at the vent that she and Urchin just opened.

"Oh...everytime I start 'avin' fun." Sebastian stopped the choir.

"Come on guys, we're leaving!" Urchin motioned for the other crabs to rise up, and escape from the tank.

And in single file, the crabs crawled from the tank and swam out into the vents and followed the trail Ariel and Urchin had mapped out.

()()()


	7. Escape Plan

Chapter 7 - A Whale of an escape

Tracey crawled out of the ventilation, where 2 of her associates were waiting.

"What did you hear?" asked one

"They're going to kill Billy...he's worth more dead than alive." replied Tracey

Tracey knew she was onto something big.

"So what's the plan?" asked the second associate.

Tracey didn't have anything in mind yet, but she was considering an act of eco-terrorism that would rock that aquarium something brutal.

()()()

Meanwhile, Sebastian and Packham were leading the troupe of crabs out of the tank and into the open ocean, while Ariel and Urchin went to go and try and rescue Billy.

Sebastian and Packham got all the crabs out and they were on their way for the open ocean.

"So now what, old boy? You want to come join us?" Asked Packham

"No, mon. I got a job with de king now. But i'll be sure to take de current to Eel-lectric city when I get de chance." Replied Sebastian

"Oh well, old chap. Take care now, Cheeri-o!" Packham went to catch up with the other crabs.

"Cheerio to you too, mon!" replied Sebastian, waving his claw goodbye.

Sebastian breathed a sigh of happiness, but now he had the bigger problem of helping a whale from it's tank.

()()()

Back in the vents, Ariel and Urchin swam them towards the tank that contained Billy the whale. And under complete darkness, they were able to get into his tank that night without the security noticing anything.

When they got into Billy's tank, there was Billy, curled up and hungry, cold, and ready to go home.

"Hey, Billy, wake up, it's Urchin." Urchin bumped Billy's tail.

"Huh, what?" Billy came to life.

"It's us, Billy...we're going to try and figure a way out." Replied Ariel

But if there was one thing the group did not know, the only way out was a valve.

()()()

A few minutes passed, and Tracey and her associates climbed into the whale's enclosure.

"Where is that valve? It should be here somewhere." Replied Tracey

"Hey, let's go downstairs and spray some stuff on the walls." said one of the associates.

"Hey, shut up...we're here to save a life." Tracey continued to look.

Eventually, she found some valves. It was now a matter of picking the right one.

"Which one opens the floodgates?" Tracey thought to herself.

Tracey then made a big decision and picked the one that was closest to the gate...and as she turned it, an alarm sounded. She began to hurry it up.

Back under the water, Ariel and Urchin heard the alarm, but also saw a wall going down.

"Hey! We can get out that way!" Ariel pointed to the wall going down.

Eventually, Tracey was able to get the gate all the way open, allowing the whale to escape.

"Go whale! Go! Get out of here, you're free!" Tracey yelled into Billy's tank.

Just then, 2 guards came running towards Tracey.

"Hey you, stop!" one of the guards yelled, before Tracey's assistants tripped them up and began fighting them.

Tracey ran for another tank with dolphins, and also took the time to free them. But as she began turning the valve wheel, a guard grabbed her from behind, and got a bit fresh. He held her in a chokehold and took a whiff of her hair.

"Mmm, you smell good, girl!" the guard said.

Tracey took exception to the compliment, and bagged the guard with her sneaker with a donkey kick, before coaxing the dolphins to escape. However, 3 other guards grabbed her and tackled her to the ground, ending her little escape plan.

()()()

By now, Billy was bolting into the ocean with Ariel and Urchin in tow, and Sebastian not too far off the beaten path.

"Let's get out of here!" declared Billy

But their joy was short-lived, as 2 boats began to circle in where the whale and his rescuers were swimming for the open ocean, with nets in place, ready to catch whatever swam for them.

But as the nets came closer to capturing the group, one of the boats then had a large BANG and was tipped over, disabling it from continuing it's catch.

()()()


	8. You are sooooo beached, young lady

Chapter 8 - You are soooo beached

()()()

The bang had come from another whale...Billy's father, Chinook.

"Dadddddyyyy!" Billy was overjoyed to see his father had intentionally butted his head with the human's boat in order to save him.

"Come on over, Billy!" Chinook motioned for billy to swim to him, with Ariel and Urchin in behind.

And to put an exclamation mark on their liberation, a blinding flash of light pierced the hull of the other boat, causing it to sink downward, and it's sailors swimming in the cold water for shore.

"That came from Triton's trident!" Sebastian cried out.

And indeed it did...there was king Triton with trident in hand, and a really, really stern look on his face.

By then, all threats had been neutralized, so now came time for the punishment.

"Daddy...how did you..." Ariel didn't get to finish.

"Enough, young lady...come over here now!"

Ariel dropped her head and swam towards her father, and Urchin followed suit with Sebastian.

"Now...what were you thinking swimming off for 2 days to rescue a whale?" Asked Triton

Ariel might have been a bit tired, but not short of any arguing.

"Daddy, I wanted to do it! I forced Sebastian and Urchin to follow me."

"Dats correct, yer majesty, she done forced me to go...but I won't go into details on 'ow she done it." Said Sebastian

"Oh really...did it have to do with my last seaweed cookie?" asked Triton

"Um...maybe...yer majesty?" Replied Sebastian very sheepishly.

Triton just rolled his eyes.

"Come along now, we've got a long trip home." Triton began swimming for Atlantica, with his Daughter, adopted son and personal Aide in tow, while Billy and his father were still embracing.

()()()

With the hours of the morning soon to come, Billy was back home, sleeping in his bed peacefully and quietly. His mother couldn't stop crying tears of joy when Chinook brought him back home.

Meanwhile, Triton was busy discussing the ordeal with Ariel around a warming light. He had already discussed it with Urchin and Sebastian, and while Sebastian claimed he was under extortion, Urchin was given a warning and sent home. But Ariel was in for a worse punishment than either of them.

"So Ariel, you forced me to travel for miles to help rescue a whale without telling me. Was it worth it?" asked Triton

Ariel got up from her seat, and looked down at where Billy was now sound asleep. He looked happy, and so did his parents, who were undoubtedly grateful to Ariel, Urchin, Sebastian and King Triton.

"It was worth everything." Ariel answered Triton's question with no doubt.

Triton's stern look changed to a slight grin.

"To be honest, it did bring me joy to see the look on Billy's mother's face when he came home. She honestly believed she would never see him again." replied Triton.

Ariel cracked a slight smile of agreement.

"But you are still beached for the next week."

Ariel figured she deserved it.

"Yes, daddy." replied Ariel

"ok...now that we have that settled...time for bed. I'll see you tommorow."

And with that, Ariel went off to bed. She might have been facing a week of punishment, but to see Billy the next day, hopefully with a smile on his face for the first time since he moved to Atlantica, it was indeed worth the trouble.

()()()

The End


	9. Credits

Credits

()()()

**Directed by**

**Phil from Produce**

**Executive Producer**

**Phil from Produce**

**Written by**

**Phil from Produce**

**Cover Art**

**Phil from Produce**

**Story inspired by**

**Ariel at Disneyland...really.**

**Original Fiction Characters**

**Ariel**

**Sebastian**

**Urchin**

**King Triton**

**Original Characters**

**Billy**

**Chinook**

**Pink**

**Tracey Blythe**

**CEO of Sea-life City**

**The Dolphin pod**

**Catering by**

**The Real Canadian Superstore on Luckacuck Road**

**Subway on Luckacuck Road**

**Fortune Star in Cottonwood Mall**

**(No alcohol during this one, I swear.)**

**Credit Writer**

**Fabulous Flea**

**Sitting on the throne right now**

**Urchin**

**(Hey, he may be small, but he eats.)**

**Sure as heck doesn't like angst**

**Phil from Produce**

**Made 2 bucks washing my car**

**Homeless guy**

**Beat the Prince George Spruce Kings 5-1 the night I finished writing**

**Chilliwack Chiefs**

**Beat the Coquitlam Express 2-1 the night I finished posting**

**Chilliwack Chiefs**

**Made me work out when I wasn't writing**

**Shaun. T with Insanity **

**(Come on, push, push, PUSH!)**

**Promotional Consideration Provided by**

**The undersea clamshell bikini corp.**

**Trident Gum...ok, not really.**

**The Anti-Sealife City foundation for the welfare of sea animals**

**NOT The Sea Shepherds**

**Has Zoboomafoo as a pet**

**Disneywildkrattfangirl**

**Wrote some awesome reviews and probably should be a clamshell bikini model worth millions**

**Frumouttamimind**

**Original Writer of "The Little Mermaid"**

**Hans Christian Andersen**

**Disclaimer**

**The Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Andersen and is in the public domain. The 1989, 2000, and 2008 disney movies are owned by disney, and the 1992-1994 TV series is also owned by disney, and I do not take any profit from their content.**

**()()**

**Copyright 2014 P.M. Productions**

**A Phil from Produce Fanfic**

**()()()**

**()()()**

Urchin appeared on the screen

"Hey, if you're still watching this tape, well, I just want to remind you, that you should rewind the tape before you put it back in it's case."

Then Ariel swam into frame.

"Urchin's right! It's not nice to send this tape back to the video store without rewinding it! That means the other person has to rewind the tape, and therefore they don't get to see the video right away." Said Ariel

"So be kind...and rewind!" Ariel and Urchin said together, before swimming out of frame.

()()()


End file.
